“You can’t drag her off!” Pepper shouted after him. “We’re about to leave, and I need to do quick introductions and pre-party shots!”
“God-fucking-damn it,” he mumbled under his breath. He might have stopped dragging me away, but he didn’t let go of my arm and he stayed so close to my side the heat from his body, and the delicious smell of his cologne invaded my senses.
I stood on shaky limbs as Pepper shoved a tequila shot in each of my hands and watched like a hawk as I downed them. Once Devon and I were declared properly liquored up, I was lead around the room. I said hellos to everyone I already knew, along with the few I didn’t. Rowan was there with Collin, Griffin, and obviously Richard, and I met Pepper’s friend Tomas, and Navie’s best friend from college, Harlow, who was there with her husband Noah.
There was also another couple there that Navie introduced me to as her foster brother Carson, and his wife Cassidy. I didn’t know the story of what Navie’s life was like growing up, but I was glad she’d met someone in foster care who obviously cared about her enough to claim her as family.
“Don’t worry,” a semi-drunk Navie assured me, obviously mistaking my look of discomfort as just being shy. “The guys are doing their own thing tonight. They just met up here, too.”
“What do you ladies have planned for tonight, anyway?” Rowan asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “You never did tell me.”
“We’re going to a titty bar!” Pepper shouted triumphantly, fist-bumping the air above her. Tomas, who was so obviously gay, groaned, seemingly as excited to see T and A as I was.
“Those places smell like sex and poor decisions,” Devon said. “I’m in!”
“A strip club?!” Collin cried. “I’m going with them,” he informed Rowan. “That sounds so much better than beer and pool. You should be ashamed of yourself, man. It’s obvious your woman knows how to live better than you do. I’m embarrassed to call you my cousin.”
Rowan’s mouth dropped open as he threw his hands in the air. “I didn’t plan it! It was up to the Best Man to put the bachelor party together!” He shot Richard a killing look.
“Hey, you’re the one who said you wanted laid back. I gave you laid back. How the hell was I supposed to know the women you guys associate with had better taste than you do?”
“Uh…” the man who’d been introduced as Noah held up his hand. “Just saying, if my wife’s going to a strip club I’m going with her.” Harlow looked at him with a glare. “Strictly to make sure you’re safe and out of trouble!” he amended quickly. “Not because I want to see other women dance around naked. Blech, gross.” He did a full body shiver for effect that even I had to laugh at despite the tension building between me and Richard.
“I’m with Noah,” Griffin spoke. “If we leave them unmanned every one of them is bound to end up arrested. I say we go with them, make it a co-ed thing.”
“Co-ed bachelor party!” Tomas cried, “I second that. If I’m to be forced to watch glitter-covered giggly bits dance around a greased up stage tonight, it’s only fair I have eye-candy of my own to look at.” He shot Rowan a sultry look that had him stepping behind Navie like she could possibly defend him.
“Then it’s settled,” Richard declared from beside me. “We’ll all go to the strip club as one big happy family.”
Uh oh.
As if my warning bells weren’t echoing loud enough, he looked down and added so low that only I could hear, “And you and I are going to have a little talk on the way there.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we got that limo since you’re all a bunch of party crashers,” Pepper spouted, propping one hand on her hip while downing a tequila shot with the other. “Let’s go! The strippers aren’t going to dance for themselves. Time to put some poor, lost girl through medical school, ladies and gentlemen!”
And just like that, we were off.
LETTING THESE WOMEN LOOSE in a strip club had to have been one of the worst ideas known to all of man-kind.
We’d been at the club for about an hour, and already the women seemed to have made best friends with every one of the strippers — to the extreme displeasure of every single man in the building.
I’d been trying to find the opportunity to talk to Delilah since we left Rowan’s place, but was thwarted at every turn. If it wasn’t Pepper barging in to feed her more shots, it was Devon stealing her away to get impromptu dance lessons from one of the strippers who was supposed to be working the floor. There was always someone there to take her away the moment I tried to corner her for out little chat.
Tension coiled at the base of my neck, getting worse and worse as the night progressed, causing a dull ache to throb right behind my eyes.
“Dude, this has to be the worst time I’ve ever had at a strip club,” Collin lamented from my left. I couldn’t say I disagreed with him. As I lifted my beer bottle to my lips and sipped, I took in the scene before me. There were two dancers currently on stage, but instead of paying attention to any of the guys near the front of the stage, or working the poles, they were focused on dancing at the side where Devon, Pepper, Cassidy, and Harlow were currently congregated, waving dollar bills in the air as they drunkenly danced around to the music.
The ones that were supposed to be working the floor were too busy sitting at the cluster of tables Navie, Delilah, and Tomas were at. They were sitting down… having conversations… as opposed to giving lap dances. We were in a strip club for Christ’s sake. There were tits and ass everywhere, but not a single lap dance in sight. At one point when I’d taken Del a refill of whatever pink, girly drink she’d been downing all night long, I was pretty sure I heard Tomas giving the stripper to his left makeup tips.
“It’s actually depressing to watch,” Collin continued whining. “Who knew being in a room full of women wearing little more than dental floss could be so… boring.”
“I’m pretty sure some of the dudes in here are going to revolt if our girls don’t stop monopolizing all the strippers time,” Griffin added from where he stood at the bar on my right side. “Not that I’m complaining, personally. I think that dancer, Cherry is going to give Pepper some pole dancing lesson so tonight’s a win-win for me.”
The rest of the guys just watched on from where we stood around the bar while the women — and Tomas — made best friends with all the strippers.
A loud squeal came from the side of the stage, and we all turned to see Cassidy throw her hands up in the air, waving the tiny bikini top the dancer on the stage had just thrown her way like she’d just won the goddamned lottery.
“And this is why bachelor and bachelorette parties should never be combined,” Carson said, watching as his wife tied the barely-there spandex triangles over the top of her shirt.
“We’re no better off here than we would have been if we’d gone to a bar,” Rowan said. “At least here we have something entertaining to watch… and I’m sure we’ll have plenty to hold over their heads by tomorrow morning.”
Noah clinked his beer bottle against my brother’s in agreement. “I’ve been taking pictures all night long. Trust me, gentlemen, blackmail doesn’t work with this particular group of women unless you have tangible proof.”
I was only half-way paying attention to what they were saying around me, too focused on Delilah and her animated conversation with the woman sitting next to her. Christ, she looked fucking amazing tonight. It took everything I had not to throw her over my shoulder and find a room with a lock on the door back at Rowan and Navie’s apartment and spank her ass red for wearing it out in public. I’d been harder than a goddamned steel beam all night long. But the fact that she’d worn that dress for a night out with her girls… where any man she came across would have undoubtedly tried to pick her up had I not been there… made me positively violent. As far as I was concerned, that was my dress.
Noticing her drink was almost empty, I took the opportunity to order her another and made my way over to the table in the hopes of getting her attention. S
he’d been avoiding me for the past few days, and I was officially over it. So help me God, we were going to talk.
“Delilah,” I said as soon as I reached the table.
“Richard! Hey, hi, hey,” she sputtered, looking up at me with wide, glassy eyes. “This is Candy,” she said, pointing at the woman in a pink, sparkly thong with matching pasties over her nipples, and an abundance of body glitter. “She’s a single mother of two, and her ex-baby daddy is a total loser. Can you believe that? Quick!” she shouted, smacking me on the arm a few times. “Give her money! She needs it for her kids!”
“Delilah,” I tried again, only to freeze up when her little hand slid into the pocket of my jeans. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for your wallet,” she answered, her face a mask of drunken conversation as she moved from one pocket to the next. “Ah ha!” He cried triumphantly when she finally pulled it out of my back pocket. “Ooh, a twenty. Here,” she waved it at Candy. “Buy them something fun. And if you ever need a babysitter you should so totally call me.”
Oh Jesus.
“Delilah, baby, how drunk are you?” I finally managed to ask, but it wasn’t her that answered. It was Candy.
“She’s had three tequila shots and two Cosmos since I sat down. I think it’s safe to say your girl’s going to be feeling it tomorrow morning.” She gave me a kind smile and handed the twenty back to me, along with a folded slip of paper. When I opened it up and saw a phone number written inside, I glared back down at the woman.
“Not for you,” she said with an eye roll and pointed at Delilah. “It’s for her. Make sure she gets it tomorrow when she’s sobered up. Your girlfriend’s awesome and she needs to call me to hang out some time.”
“I’ll be sure to do that,” I muttered, sliding the number and money back into my pocket.
“Oh, I’m not his girlfriend,” Delilah chirped at the Candy woman.
“Could have fooled me, honey. I’ve seen the way he’s been watching you all night long.”
Seriously, was I invisible? Did they really not see me? I mean, that had to be the case since they were talking about me like I wasn’t standing. Right. There.
“He’s just having fun,” Delilah answered, making my entire body seize up all of a sudden. “That’s what I overheard him tell his cousin. He’s just having fun. Right, Richard?” She looked up at me with those big brown eyes, completely devoid of maliciousness as she spoke, like she was simply stating the facts. Obviously a drunk Delilah was an honest Delilah. And I now knew why she’d been avoiding me for the past few days.
“But I’ll tell you a little secret,” she leaned forward and whispered loudly to Candy — who was staring me down like she was considering stabbing me in the eye with her stiletto, “I really like him. Like, really like him. So it’s okay we’re only having fun, ‘cause I’d rather have fun with him for a little while than nothing.”
Oh, fuck me. I was the world’s biggest fucking asshole.
“Plus, he’s like, super good in bed,” she added before holding her hand up for a high five.
“Delilah, I think we should probably get you home,” I said softly as I reached for her hand to help her up.
“But I’m having so much fun! And Candy’s gonna teach me how to hold onto the pole with just my legs. Right Candy? How cool is that?!” She gave my arm another excited smack.
“Baby—” I started, only to be interrupted by a big ass dude that was at least three of me stomping up to the table with his massive arms crossed over his chest and his bald head shining in the lights of the disco ball above the stage. I suddenly got the feeling shit was about to hit the fan.
“You girls need to work the floor,” he demanded, eyeing each of the strippers sitting at the table. “This isn’t a goddamned Tupperware party. Do your jobs.”
“Hey!” Navie shouted, gaining her feet, although somewhat wobbly. “You can’t talk to them like that, asshole!” Everything seemed to grow quiet as Navie’s shouts gained the attention of everyone around us.
The bald bouncer laughed humorlessly and threw his head back. “You have got to be shitting me!”
“There a problem here?” Rowan asked as he and the rest of the guys walked up to the tables.
“Hey!” Pepper yelled. “Navie! Is that the dude who keeps getting us arrested?”
Fuck me. I groaned inwardly. Yep, shit was definitely about to hit the fan.
“Yeah, we got a problem here, man,” the bouncer told Rowan. “The problem is you need to keep your bitch here on a shorter leash.”
“Hey! Whoa! Whoa!” Everyone started to shout as we all moved to keep Rowan from pummeling the guy in front of him for talking shit about his fiancée.
“Hey, hey, let’s just calm down.” Griffin tried to mediate the situation. “Look, sir, I’m a cop—”
“Well good for fuckin’ you,” the bouncer snarled. “You with the redhead?” he asked, noticing Pepper sidled up closer to him.
“Yeah. But as I was saying—”
“Your bitch is just as fuckin’ crazy as the blonde midget chick over there,” he waved his hand at Navie. And with that last insult, all Hell broke loose. Navie and Pepper both pounced in defense of each other. Rowan and Griffin went after the man for insulting their woman. Strippers started screeching and running from the chaos like they were afraid of popping an implant. The men who’d been denied their lap dances all night joined the fray, each attempting to beat the shit out of any one of us for having the nerve to bring women into their sanctuary.
I tried to shuffle Delilah — who was surprisingly trying to throw down for her girls — out of the fray only to be nailed in the stomach by some asshole’s cheap shot. Eventually I had no other choice but to defend myself. For each punch I received, I managed to land two, but that didn’t mean my side of the fight was winning. The crowd only seemed to grown, the yells getting louder, the longer the fight lasted until no one knew who they were hitting or why.
Yep. Shit had definitely hit the fan.
AS DEVON WOULD SAY, the shit done hit the fan in an epic way. The last thing I recalled, I was sitting there having the most wonderful conversation with that sweet Candy lady, and the next thing I knew, a chair went flying by my head. It was like something out of a Tarantino film or something. I was pretty sure I saw one man spit a tooth out as his head jerked sideways with the force of a punch.
Now, I’d never been a fighter. I always had my big Brother Jace growing up to handle that stuff for me, but I had just enough booze in my system at that moment to make me feel like I could take down an elephant with just my bare hands. And besides… everyone else was doing it.
I picked a guy I didn’t recognize and jumped on his back like a freaking howler monkey, fully prepared to scratch the ever-loving shit out of his if need be. But before I got the chance to put my defensive maneuvers into motion the lights suddenly blinked on and the doors to the strip club burst open, police yelling to break it up as they descended on our little street brawl.
“Woohoo!” Harlow cheered over the din of fists cracking against bone. “The male strippers are here!” Her husband Noah quickly went to cover her mouth before she could say anything else. As we were all hustled out the door — well, everyone but the dancers who’d wisely gotten out of the line of fire — Navie’s protested yells could be heard over all the arguing.
“It’s all that Mr. Clean asshole’s fault! This was my bachelorette party and he had to go and ruin it! He ruins all the fun!”
“Three times in one year I’ve been accosted by that woman!” The man in question shouted back. “I can’t take it anymore! I’m moving back to Kentucky where I don’t have to worry about miniature white women attacking me for no good reason!”
“Seriously, is this really necessary?” Griffin asked the officer who was dragging him out to the sidewalk in cuffs. “For fuck’s sake, O’Neill, you know me. We’re brothers in blue, man. Pepper and I were at your daughters christening just last week!”
&nb
sp; “Sorry, man. Just following orders,” The O’Neill guy muttered, looking like he was trying really hard not to laugh as he lowered Griffin to sit on the curb with the rest of the guys.
“Whose fucking orders, huh? I want names, goddamn it!”
“Try your partner, for one.”
I heard a sharp gasp and turned to see Pepper’s mouth hanging open. “That traitorous bastard! I’m going to kill him!”
“What’s happening?” I leaned over to ask Navie. “I feel like I’m missing something.”
She gave a cute little giggle, followed by a hiccup before answering. “Griffin’s partner, Dex just so happens to also be Pepper’s brother. He’s been there each time we’ve gotten arrested. Him and his wife weren’t able to come tonight because she’s pregnant with their second baby, but, from what I hear, there’s been a bet going on at the station for a while now on just how many times Pepper and I can get arrested before the charges stick. Dex picked three times.”
“That’s it!” Griffin shouted. “I’m getting a new partner!”
I couldn’t help but giggle right along with Navie as the officers started separating the boys from the girls. Two big vans were pulled up next to each other and they started loading people in.
“I’m so glad you guys were able to come tonight.” Navie called as we were led to the van for the women. “I’ve had so much fun!” And honestly, I had, too. I mean, sure, I was getting arrested, but if you have to go down, do it with good friends, right? Plus, I was still drunk enough not to really care.
“Me too!” I called back. Just then Devon turned and looked back at both of us.
“Best. Night. Ever!”
“Right?!” Navie agreed. “And I’m happy you’re with Richard, Delilah! You’re so much cooler than his wife. She was just the worst!”
Wait… what?
“Wait, what?”
You know that part in movies, where the screeching sound of a record causes everyone in the screen to freeze and stare at the drama that was about to unfold. Yeah, I was living that exact moment just then.
Opposites Attract (The Locklaine Boys Book 2) Page 18
